Summer in the Blueberry Hills

As you can see from the date on the last entry, I am way off schedule on posting any news from the Leafy Cafe. I apologize and could make all sorts of excuses. Instead, for the next few entries I plan to share some photos of what we've been up to here in the Blueberry Hills.

Robin's Nest above our front

We ventured far away from out little slice of heaven quite a bit this Spring and early Summer. We arrived home from our trip to Norway to find a Robin had built a nest right over the front door to our home! Here is a photo journal of the special little guests who "checked in" to the Blueberry Cottage while we were away. I'm going to use this as a sort of timeline to show how quickly things move here in the Maine Summer, everything scrambling to get all of the reproducing done in a few short weeks. I have included photos of the other glorious growing that has been going on all around our home. All up these journal entries will take us through about a month with the garden planted before we left for Norway and the nest being built while we were gone. The eggs laid the week after we returned, incubation for the next two weeks and then hatching, feeding, fledgling all in about four weeks between June 27 and July 30! And the garden grows and grows uncontrollably at times!

A Robin lays an egg a day so here is three days worth of effort!

If you would like to learn more about Robins and their nesting habits, click HERE.

Meanwhile Strawberries and Rhubarb are ready for harvest

We had a terrible time with our gardens last year. Many people told us that first year gardens often do not produce much. That was the darn truth here and we tried not to be discouraged and our patience paid off. This year is a different story. Our lasagna gardens and buckets of veggies are going crazy with very little effort from us!

A blurry photo of our Rhubarb

MMMMMM Good!

Sliced Strawbs, its lucky for D that they made it to the crumble at all!

We love fruit crumbles and after being in Scandinavia, the land of great Summer berries, we were very happy to come home to enough ingredients to make our own Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble! Lower Fat Strawberry-Rhubarb CrumbleIngredients:
Filling:
2 cups rhubarb, sliced
3 cups strawberries, sliced
1/3 cups sugar
3 – 4 T Cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice w/ some lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon saltTopping:1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry flour2/3 cup brown sugar2 tablespoons white sugar1/4 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon cinnamon1/4 cup canola oilMethod:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
1. Combine all of the filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients for the topping. Drizzle in the oil and use your fingers or a fork to combine the mixture until crumbs form.
3. Pour the fruit mixture into an appropriate sized Pyrex baking dish. Spread the crumble topping over the fruit mixture evenly and cover with foil.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes at 425 F. Lower heat to 350 F, and remove the foil. Bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and the crumb topping should be golden. Place on a cooling rack and let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.